Fun, Food, Family and Failures.

How to Keep Your Shit Together

Do you ever get asked how you do it? These are a few of my tried and true tips which enable me to keep my shit together well enough to survive at times and thrive on the good days.

Washing!

Wash it when there is a load. That’s right, don’t wait until there are 5 loads and then tell the world via social media how you spent all day doing the washing. Take it in turns of bed days or towell days, probably on a day when you don’t have a big enough load to fill the machine with clothes. Then hang it out using your nut. Hang the clothes in sections of what belongs to whom, then when you bring it in fold that shit straight off the line and into the basket. Walk inside and put it away. Put it away? Yes, you heard me, put it away, you already folded it, no need to dump a huge pile of clothes on a couch or a bed it’s ready to go, just put it there. Next step, go to the next bedroom and do it again. There you go, it’s done.

Housework.

Who made up the rules that you need to spend a whole day, once a week doing housework. Yes it is nice when it is all squeaky clean, but do you seriously have the energy? Just do a bit each day and keep it clean and tidy. Maybe once a month do a big all day clean, but only if you are feeling the need.

Bookwork.

Bills come and they go. Depending on what you do this can be a bit different. If you are a normal household, get yourself a bill folder and have the one that needs to be paid on top, when payday comes, check what has to be paid in that billing period and pay it. Done, not a problem except if the money and the bills don’t match, and this post has naught to do about budgeting. If you run a small home based business spend 10 minutes before you go home (or inside the home) to fill in those pesky journal entries, much more fun that a couple of days at the end of the quarter when the BAS is due.

Shopping.

Make a list. Stick to the list. Read the catalogues and buy your staples if they are really cheap, you don’t need washing powder this week, but you will after you have done those five loads of washing. Allow yourself chocolate as life is too short to not have treats. Don’t take the kids to the supermarket if you can avoid it. If you can’t say no to extras or make them choose a treat according to budget. Never take my husband shopping, he is worse than children, your significant other may be better behaved. Look after the small business, use the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker (OK, I know we don’t need candles every week any more, but I couldn’t help it). My local baker does a loaf of sliced bread and two litres of milk for $5, cheaper than walking through the lolly aisle with the kids to get to the milk at the back of the shop. Buy your mince and sausages in bulk and freeze the extras.

Kids.

This is my biggest failure. My ideas are good, but executing them can be somewhat of a trial because unlike the other things we now have to take into consideration personalities, moods and the position of the moon. My most successful tool is bribery. In the morning. You may play games on your tablet before school and kinder once you have eaten, gotten dressed, your hair is done and teeth are clean. This works most days find your bribe and stick to it. Stay consistent, as soon as you decide you can’t be bothered putting them to bed, so stay up a bit late and watch a movie, those little nutters will cut loose with the most annoying of behaviour making me instantly regret my laziness.

Cooking.

You can go and spend more than I spent on my first car on the most lavish of appliances these days. Personally I love chopping and preparing, it makes my wine taste better, and the love in the food shines on the plate. I love cooking, so I have no advise to those of you who don’t. The slow cooker trend puzzles me somewhat. You still have to prepare it, then leave and appliance on all day, often while at work. Sorry Dudettes and Dudes, this freaks me out as much as leaving the iron on.

Check your emails every two days.

Make sure there are no bills and unsubscribe to all the time wasters you accidentally subscribed to in the first place. Don’t attach your social media to your email, that’s just another way of getting you to log on and waste a few hours reading shit you already knew, like the content of this post.

But the one thing I have had to come to terms with is that I am not a superhero. I like the thought of it. I wish I was one. But I am not. There are days when all this organisation still gets me down. I used to get stressed. Now I just accept that the floor will still be dirty tomorrow when I feel more like doing it (I used to have to do that on Wednesday or my whole world would end), the family will survive on toasted sangas for dinner if I am not feeling the cooking love, there are plenty more clothes in the cupboard, the kids will not die if I don’t….the list is to long for this one. Keep your expectations of yourself real peeps, balance the life and keep your shit together xx